OK, first off, I know this topic has probably been done to death, but it's been on my mind for literally the past few months and I would just like other people's opinion on this.
So one of my friends is getting married next month. She's part of a larger group of friends and during my single years I used to see this group all the time and we used to go out together pretty much every weekend. Whenever a weekend away or special event/birthday was planned within this group I was always invited. Since then I met my husband and we lived abroad for 3 years (not really my idea and I was homesick for the majority of it), but I did try and keep in touch with said group of friends, most notably by planning a visit/lunch/general meet-up every time I was back in the UK over the course of those 3 years. They were also all present at my hen party (actually they helped organise it) and they were all invited for my wedding a few years back (the entire affair: ceremony, dinner and evening party).
Now my husband and I moved back to UK permanently in December (last year) and since then I have met up with some or all of these friends on various occassions and the friend who is getting married was always involved. For instance, I met them for her birthday drinks (even though I am pregnant and can't drink alcohol), went to a concert with her and another friend, etc. Most crucially, I was invited to her hen party last month, which I attended and which spanned an entire weekend.
Now, as the title already says, I have only been invited to the evening party of her wedding next month (I will also be attending the ceremony as I asked her if this was possible and would have felt very left out if I had missed that, but obviously not the dinner) because the families are quite big and (in her own words) 'she had to draw the line somewhere'. I have tried to be an adult about it, to be understanding about the costs involved. But really....I don't get it! For my own wedding, I only invited people I wanted to be there, not long-lost relatives I felt obliged to invite. Now I can understand if that wasn't the case with her and it is true that both her and her fiance have larger families than I do and she has quite a few close friends that she is much closer to than she is to me. However, I gathered from statusses and messages on Facebook that she has invited people she hardly ever sees (and at least sees less of than she does of me). I even read that one of her BEST FRIEND'S PARENTS are invited to the entire day...yet my husband and I are not.
So...to cut a really long story short...am I being unreasonable for feeling offended and upset at the whole thing? As I said, I am not one of her closest or best friends, but certainly thought I was closer than that! Don't get me wrong, it is most definitely not about the money, but taking into account that I invited her to my whole wedding day, she invited me to her hen do, we still regularly socialise together and my husband and I need to travel for about an hour and stay over in a hotel...does wedding etiquette not dictate that she should have invited me to the whole day? And is she trying to send out a message that she doesn't really see me as a friend but rather a casual acquaintance?
